Illumi, as expected, was a smart child. Without much persuasion from me, he quickly understood the pros and cons of the future and agreed to cooperate with me to stop getting perfect scores, in the form of a trade.
I nodded to signal my acceptance of the deal.
"A whistle. If you give me the whistle," Illumi pointed to the one hanging on my chest, "I'll cooperate with you, sis."
"!"
I remember that even before Illumi could speak properly, he was already very interested in my whistle. To the point that before seeing him, I would hide it in the innermost layer of my clothes – just like my current reflex of hiding the whistle.
"You always hide the whistle before seeing me, sis. There's no need for that, is there? I promise I won't snatch your things," Illumi said with an innocent expression.
Hmph, nice words, you little brat. Even if I wanted to snatch it, you might not be able to, right!
The whistle is definitely out of the question, not even to be considered! I used my bunny plushie to shield my chest and shook my head in refusal.
"...Can't?" To my surprise, Illumi wasn't as persistent about the whistle as I expected. He readily changed the terms of the trade, "Then I want the eagle you're raising."
"!!!"
Hey! You little rascal, you're too good at picking! You're picking the very things I would never give away!
This time, I didn't need to shake my head; my expression betrayed my thoughts. Illumi, being understanding, retreated again, "This is also not acceptable? Hmm, can you give me your three leaf specimen books?"
"!!!!!!!!!!"
You're deliberately picking my favorite things, aren't you! You demon!!
"Still not accepting?" Illumi sighed. When he looked at me again, he adopted a serious and earnest tone that was utterly inappropriate for his age, "A trade requires fairness. Father said that give and take is the essence of a trade."
Pooh! Go to hell with your trade! You want to take what I love? No way, I'm out!
It was clear that negotiations had broken down. If it's competition, then let it be competition! I refuse to believe that my bachelor's degree education level can't compete with a mere four-year-old brat!
I stomped my foot on the carpet in anger, opened the door, and chose to make a...
I didn't get to "go" anywhere. Kikyo was standing at the door, startling me. My judgment was flawed! Kikyo wasn't asleep either?!
"Moll, tell Mommy, why are you in Illumi's room so late?" Kikyo placed her hand on my shoulder and pushed me back into the room, "You haven't even changed into your pajamas, your hair is messy, and you're going out without tidying up... That's very ill-bred, do you know that?"
I quickly nodded, and with the hand not holding the bunny plushie, I haphazardly ran my fingers through my hair.
"Don't scratch with your hands! A comb! Didn't you bring a comb?" Kikyo grabbed my wrist, her emotions gradually intensifying, "Tell Mommy, why did you come here!"
Of course, I couldn't say it was to eliminate the internal competition. The excuse of losing my eraser wouldn't work either, as Kikyo would ask Illumi, and he would reveal the truth. It was better to tell the truth, or at least part of it.
I mouthed that I suspected Illumi's secret to getting perfect scores was studying in secret, so I launched a surprise late-night raid to verify my guess.
"Is that so, Illu?" Kikyo, as expected, turned to the other party involved, Illumi, for confirmation.
Illumi nodded. He has a conscience!
"Ah—Honestly! Then you should have tidied yourself up before going out!" Kikyo continued to question Illumi while tidying the wrinkles in my pajamas, "And you too, Illu, why are you still awake so late? Even for homework, it's not allowed! This is an important stage for growth!"
Oh right, with Kikyo's restrictions, Illumi couldn't use the "staying up late to study" method to maintain his overly advanced learning speed!
Wow, it's a good thing Kikyo found out!
A blessing in disguise!
Illumi's recent secret late-night studying had been hidden from everyone, including Kikyo, so Kikyo's focus was entirely on Illumi. "You've been hiding this from Mommy all this time. Did you ever think about how sad Mommy would be if she found out! Oh, Illumi, you can't! You can't do this!! You are my most obedient child!!!!!!"
Oh, so I'm not the most obedient one? Come to think of it, I learned lip-reading and sign language but rarely used them. Instead, I often used muteness as a shield to selectively remain silent. This is actually "passive resistance," and I'm indeed not the most obedient type.
I'm used to Kikyo's nagging, so filtering her words doesn't matter anymore. More than the noise, I feel her voice is like a lullaby. It's very late now, and I want to go back to sleep. But Kikyo is in high spirits, and I need to minimize my presence to avoid being implicated. I wouldn't dare to leave directly.
"Still awake so late?" This time, the person standing at the door was Silva.
As one of the three major bosses of the Zoldyck family's instance, Silva's appearances were infrequent to maintain his boss-like aura. It was rare for him to show up to save the day – I'm really lucky today!
Through the conversation between Kikyo and Silva, I learned that Silva had just returned from work. Oh right, the Zoldyck children are all too young. The only ones who could go out and work were the three bosses of the family. Thinking about how Illumi always seemed to be working in the original story, it seems that the assassin's job is indeed quite busy.
"I used to be like this often when I was young," after discussing Illumi's matter, Silva looked at me. "Moll, you're very much like me in this aspect."
What? In what way am I like you? No, I don't want to become a muscular Barbie in the future, a second Biscuit!
"...Your hair is even more unruly." Silva squatted in front of me, reached out, and gently stroked my hair starting from the top. "It's okay now, you can go to sleep. Relax, Moll."
Although there was no mirror, judging by Kikyo's reaction, Silva was quite adept at styling messy hair, after all, he himself had a similar hairstyle. Kikyo, on the other hand, usually wore her hair up, tied very tightly, so there was no issue of her loose hair becoming frizzy.
"Hmm, that's about right," Silva seemed satisfied with his technique and gently patted my head. "You must be very sleepy, Moll?"
"..." I couldn't help but yawn repeatedly.
He picked me up, and my field of vision instantly rose by more than a meter. Looking down, I could see the black top of Illumi's head.
Illumi looked up at me, his eyes filled with either curiosity or... envy?
Oh, Silva taking me back to my room means leaving Illumi to Kikyo. Imagining Kikyo's nagging, Silva, who is known for being tough and quiet, is clearly more approachable.
I can understand Silva's allocation at this moment. Kikyo often complained to me about how Illumi and Silva spent too much time together every day, and she was jealous. However, she's not biased towards sons; if circumstances permitted, she would want to hold both children in her arms. When Illumi could receive the same cultural education as me and sit in the same classroom, she was overjoyed.
It's not hard to imagine that she must have expressed her jealousy to Silva countless times, so Silva generally handed Illumi over to Kikyo for management outside of their "professional courses."
As for Kikyo's management style, I, who have received Kikyo's "professional courses," have a deep understanding. Hmm, how should I put it? This woman talks too much, it's annoying.
Perhaps I was really too tired. As I was thinking, before I could even reach the bed, I fell asleep on the way back to my room with Silva carrying me.
Finally, he seemed to have touched my head and said, "Goodnight."
I'm not sure, but I didn't even dream and slept until the next day.